Soldier Ride promotes wellness, hope

By Vincent T. Davis, Staff Writer :
November 20, 2013

The Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride brought out 25 local warriors and 30 warriors from other areas to participate on Saturday in a 23-mile bike ride that started and ended at Boerne High School. Along with cycling the warriors played golf the day before and followed the cycling with yoga.

Photo By For San Antonio Express-News

The Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride brought out 25 local warriors and 30 warriors from other areas to participate Nov. 16, 2013 in a 23 mile bike ride that started and ended at Boerne High School. There were stops along the way for the participants so they could get water and regroup as the purpose of the event was to have a group ride, not a race. Along with cycling the warriors played golf the day before and followed the cycling with yoga. Wounded Warrior Project provides state-of-the-art cycling equipment to Wounded Warriors at no cost.

Photo By For San Antonio Express-News

Flags are that were placed on some of the adaptive hand cycles, trikes, and bicycles to accommodate various injuries and disabilities for the Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride are put away Nov. 16, 2013 after the ride brought out 25 local warriors and 30 warriors from other areas to participate in a 23 mile ride that started and ended at Boerne High School. There were stops along the way for the participants so they could get water and regroup as the purpose of the event was to have a group ride, not a race. Along with cycling the warriors played golf the day before and followed the cycling with yoga. Wounded Warrior Project provides state-of-the-art cycling equipment to Wounded Warriors at no cost.

Photo By For San Antonio Express-News

The Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride brought out 25 local warriors and 30 warriors from other areas to participate Nov. 16, 2013 in a 23 mile bike ride that started and ended at Boerne High School. There were stops along the way for the participants so they could get water and regroup as the purpose of the event was to have a group ride, not a race. Along with cycling the warriors played golf the day before and followed the cycling with yoga. Wounded Warrior Project provides state-of-the-art cycling equipment to Wounded Warriors at no cost.

Photo By For San Antonio Express-News

The Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride brought out 25 local warriors and 30 warriors from other areas to participate Nov. 16, 2013 in a 23 mile bike ride that started and ended at Boerne High School. There were stops along the way for the participants so they could get water and regroup as the purpose of the event was to have a group ride, not a race. Along with cycling the warriors played golf the day before and followed the cycling with yoga. Wounded Warrior Project provides state-of-the-art cycling equipment to Wounded Warriors at no cost.

Photo By For San Antonio Express-News

The Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride brought out 25 local warriors and 30 warriors from other areas to participate Nov. 16, 2013 in a 23 mile bike ride that started and ended at Boerne High School. There were stops along the way for the participants so they could get water and regroup as the purpose of the event was to have a group ride, not a race. Along with cycling the warriors played golf the day before and followed the cycling with yoga. Wounded Warrior Project provides state-of-the-art cycling equipment to Wounded Warriors at no cost.

Photo By For San Antonio Express-News

The Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride brought out 25 local warriors and 30 warriors from other areas to participate Nov. 16, 2013 in a 23 mile bike ride that started and ended at Boerne High School. There were stops along the way for the participants so they could get water and regroup as the purpose of the event was to have a group ride, not a race. Along with cycling the warriors played golf the day before and followed the cycling with yoga. Wounded Warrior Project provides state-of-the-art cycling equipment to Wounded Warriors at no cost.

Photo By For San Antonio Express-News

Jaime Prado (left) of Dallas jumps on Ron Hurtado of New York Nov. 16, 2013 after the two finished a 23 mile bike ride that started and ended at Boerne High School for the Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride which brought out 25 local warriors and 30 warriors from other areas. There were stops along the way for the participants so they could get water and regroup as the purpose of the event was to have a group ride, not a race. Along with cycling the warriors played golf the day before and followed the cycling with yoga. Wounded Warrior Project provides state-of-the-art cycling equipment to Wounded Warriors at no cost.

Photo By For San Antonio Express-News

Staff member Leslie Coleman hugs warrior Jaime Prado after finnishing the Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride Nov. 16, 2013. The ride brought out 25 local warriors and 30 warriors from other areas to participate in a 23 mile bike ride that started and ended at Boerne High School. There were stops along the way for the participants so they could get water and regroup as the purpose of the event was to have a group ride, not a race. Along with cycling the warriors played golf the day before and followed the cycling with yoga. Wounded Warrior Project provides state-of-the-art cycling equipment to Wounded Warriors at no cost.

Photo By For San Antonio Express-News

The Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride brought out 25 local warriors and 30 warriors from other areas to participate Nov. 16, 2013 in a 23 mile bike ride that started and ended at Boerne High School. There were stops along the way for the participants so they could get water and regroup as the purpose of the event was to have a group ride, not a race. Along with cycling the warriors played golf the day before and followed the cycling with yoga. Wounded Warrior Project provides state-of-the-art cycling equipment to Wounded Warriors at no cost.

Photo By For San Antonio Express-News

The Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride brought out 25 local warriors and 30 warriors from other areas to participate Nov. 16, 2013 in a 23 mile bike ride that started and ended at Boerne High School. There were stops along the way for the participants so they could get water and regroup as the purpose of the event was to have a group ride, not a race. Along with cycling the warriors played golf the day before and followed the cycling with yoga. Wounded Warrior Project provides state-of-the-art cycling equipment to Wounded Warriors at no cost.

Photo By For San Antonio Express-News

The Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride brought out 25 local warriors and 30 warriors from other areas to participate Nov. 16, 2013 in a 23 mile bike ride that started and ended at Boerne High School. There were stops along the way for the participants so they could get water and regroup as the purpose of the event was to have a group ride, not a race. Along with cycling the warriors played golf the day before and followed the cycling with yoga. Wounded Warrior Project provides state-of-the-art cycling equipment to Wounded Warriors at no cost.

Photo By For San Antonio Express-News

Lee Kuxhaus (right) of San Antonio high fives John Koenck as he brings in the back end of the Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride Nov. 16, 2013 which brought out 25 local warriors and 30 warriors from other areas to participate in a 23 mile bike ride that started and ended at Boerne High School. There were stops along the way for the participants so they could get water and regroup as the purpose of the event was to have a group ride, not a race. Along with cycling the warriors played golf the day before and followed the cycling with yoga. Wounded Warrior Project provides state-of-the-art cycling equipment to Wounded Warriors at no cost.

At a parking lot in a north San Antonio resort on Nov. 14, Harold Newhouse rode a Catrike cycle in a reclining position, just inches from the pavement.

Newhouse, who lives in San Antonio, is a medically retired Marine with titanium plates in his spine due to a back injury sustained in Iraq in 2006.

As he practiced maneuvering the recumbent bicycle, he was finding it a perfect fit for last weekend's Wounded Warrior Project's Soldier Ride.

“It's not really a race. It's more of a camaraderie ride, ” said Newhouse, 30. “You go as fast as the slowest one. It's like in the service; everyone encourages one another to keep going.”

More than 50 veterans, some injured and some not, took part in the 23-mile, three-day cycling event. Friday morning, the ride started at VFW Post 8573 in Canyon Lake and ended at noon at Rockin' R in New Braunfels. On Saturday, the ride started and ended at Boerne High School.

Many of those with special needs were at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa on Thursday to get fitted with the proper equipment for the ride. Some tried out adaptive bikes, others received cycles that are pedaled with hands instead of feet.

It's all part of the project's physical health and wellness program to help physically challenged veterans become independent and achieve a high quality of life.

The ride has its roots in 2004, when Chris Carney, a civilian, biked 5,000 miles from coast to coast in honor of the Wounded Warrior Project. A year later, he made the trip with several veterans wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq. Since then, there have been dozens of rides across the country.

Veterans who are not disabled say they participate in the ride for a chance to visit and train with fellow veterans. Sgt. 1st Class Jeffery Kowalik, 38, is on active duty at Fort Hood. He has logged hundreds of miles in various races, but sees the Soldier Ride as a different kind of event.

“You get to talk to different brothers and sisters in arms, ” he said.

His wife, Jennifer, also sees the advantages.

“It's a good program for the soldiers, ” she said. “It gives hope to do other things and that they can be independent.”

Staffers at Thursday's fitting session prepared a tandem bike for Lisa Hopkins and her son, Joshua Sommers, 26, who is blind and has a traumatic brain injury from Afghanistan in 2008. Hopkins does the steering and Sommers pedals.

“It's exciting, ” Hopkins said. “We're a team."

Hal Honeyman, owner of The Bike Rack in St. Charles, Ill., spent time hunched over many of the bikes, making adjustments and repairing chains. His wife, Julie, said her husband became interested in adaptive bikes after their son was born with cerebral palsy.

Honeyman founded Creative Mobility, which makes adaptive bikes for people with disabilities and has helped the Wounded Warrior Project. He also created Project Mobility, a nonprofit that provides cycles to children, adults and wounded military members.

A team from his business is touring with the rides, taking along a kit of parts and pieces that might be needed during the ride. Their schedule for this year includes 18 rides.

Project spokeswoman Leslie Coleman, the mother of a soldier injured in Afghanistan, said the rides are inspiring.

“You'll watch some of the stronger riders on upright bikes turn around and get behind some one on a recumbent who's struggling, lean over and help push them up hills. It's amazing, ” she said.